HOW
TO PRAY
R.
A. TORREY
CHAPTER
X
WHEN
TO PRAY
If
we would know the fulness of blessing that there is
in the prayer life, it is important not only that we pray in the right way, but
also that we pray at the right time. Christ's own example is
full of suggestiveness as to the right time for
prayer.
1.
In the 1st chapter of Mark, the 35th verse, we read, "And IN THE MORNING,
rising up A GREAT WHILE BEFORE DAY, He went out, and departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed."
JESUS
CHOSE THE EARLY MORNING HOUR FOR PRAYER. Many of the mightiest men of God have
followed the Lord's example in this. In the morning hour the mind is fresh and
at its very best. It is free from distraction, and that absolute concentration
upon God which is essential to the most effective prayer is most easily
possible in the early morning hours. Furthermore, when the early hours are
spent in prayer, the whole day is sanctified, and power is obtained for
overcoming its temptations, and for performing its duties. More can be
accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any other time
during the day. Every child of God who would make the
most out of his life for Christ, should set apart the first part of the day to
meeting God in the study of His Word and in prayer. The first thing we do each
day should be to go alone with God and face the duties, the temptations, and
the service of that day, and get
strength from God for all. We should get victory
before the hour of trial, temptation or service comes. The secret place of
prayer is the place to fight our battles and gain our victories.
2. In the 6th chapter of Luke in the 12th
verse, we get further light upon the right time to pray. We read, "And it
came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and
continued ALL NIGHT in prayer to God."
Here
we see Jesus praying in the night, spending the entire night in prayer. Of
course we have no reason to suppose that this was the constant practice of our
Lord, nor do we even know how common this practice was, but there were
certainly times when the whole night was given up to prayer. Here too we do
well to follow in the footsteps of the Master.
Of
course there is a way of setting apart nights for prayer in which there is no
profit; it is pure legalism. But the abuse of this practice is no reason for neglecting
it altogether. One ought
not to say, "I am going to spend a whole
night in prayer," with the thought that there is any merit that will win
God's favor in such an exercise; that is legalism.
But we oftentimes do well to say, "I am going to set apart this night for
meeting God, and obtaining His blessing and power; and if necessary, and if He
so leads me, I will give the whole night to prayer." Oftentimes we will
have prayed things through long before the night has passed, and we can retire and
find more refreshing and invigorating sleep than if we had not spent the time
in prayer. At other times God doubtless will keep us in communion with Himself
away into the morning, and when He does this in His infinite grace, blessed
indeed are these hours of night prayer!
Nights
of prayer to God are followed by days of power with men. In the night hours the
world is hushed in slumber, and we can easily be alone with God and have
undisturbed communion with Him. If we set apart the whole night for prayer,
there will be no hurry, there will be time for our own hearts to become quiet
before God, there will be time for the whole mind to be brought under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be plenty of time to pray things
through. A night of prayer should be put entirely under God's control. We
should lay down no rules as to how long we will pray, or as to what we shall
pray about, but be ready to wait upon God for a short time or a long time as He
may lead, and to be led out in one direction or another as He may see fit.
3.
Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE ALL THE GREAT CRISES IN HIS EARTHLY LIFE.
He
prayed before choosing the twelve disciples; before the sermon on the mount;
before starting out on an evangelistic tour; before His anointing with the Holy
Spirit and His entrance upon His public ministry; before announcing to the
twelve His approaching death; before the great consummation of His life at the
cross. (Luke 6:12,13; Luke 9:18,21,22; Luke 3:21,22;
Mark 1:35-38; Luke 22:39-46.) He prepared for every important crisis by a
protracted season of prayer. So ought we to do also. Whenever any crisis of
life is seen to be approaching, we should prepare for it by a season of very
definite prayer to God. We should take plenty of time for this prayer.
4.
Christ prayed not only before the great events and victories of His life, but
He also prayed AFTER ITS GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPORTANT CRISES.
When He had fed the five thousand with the
five loaves and two fishes, and the multitude desired to take Him and make Him king,
having sent them away He went up into the mountain apart to pray, and spent
hours there alone in prayer to God (Matt. 14:23; Jn.
6:15). So He went on from victory to victory.
It
is more common for most of us to pray before the great events of life than it
is to pray after them, but the latter is as important as the former. If we
would pray after the great achievements of life, we might go on to still
greater; as it is we are often either puffed up or exhausted by the things that
we do in the name of the Lord, and so we advance no further. Many and many a
man in answer to prayer has been endued with power and thus has wrought great
things in the name of the Lord, and when these great things were accomplished,
instead of going alone with God and humbling himself before Him, and giving Him
all the glory for what was achieved, he has congratulated himself upon what has
been accomplished, has become puffed up, and God has been obliged to lay him
aside. The great things done were not followed by humiliation of
self, and prayer to God, and so pride has come
in and the mighty man has been shorn of his power.
5.
Jesus Christ gave a special time to prayer WHEN LIFE WAS UNUSUALLY BUSY. He
would withdraw at such a time from the multitudes that thronged about Him, and
go into the wilderness and pray. For example, we read in Luke 5:15,16, "But so much the more went abroad
the report concerning Him: and great multitudes
came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. But He withdrew
Himself in the deserts and prayed." (R.V.)
Some
men are so busy that they find no time for prayer. Apparently the busier
Christ's life was, the more He prayed. Sometimes He had no time to eat (Mark
3:20), sometimes He had no time for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31,33,46), but He always took time to pray; and the more the
work crowded the more He prayed.
Many
a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ, and when the work has
crowded more than usual they have set an unusual amount of time apart for
prayer. Other men of God, once mighty, have lost their power because they did
not learn this secret, and allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.
Years
ago it was the writer's privilege, with other theological students, to ask
questions of one of the most useful Christian men of the day. The writer was
led to ask,
"Will
you tell us something of your prayer life?"
The
man was silent a moment, and then, turning his eyes earnestly upon me, replied:
"Well,
I must admit that I have been so crowded with work of late that I have not
given the time I should to prayer."
Is
it any wonder that that man lost power, and the great work that he was doing
was curtailed in a very marked degree? Let us never forget that the more the
work presses on us, the more time must we spend in prayer.
6.
Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE THE GREAT TEMPTATIONS OF HIS LIFE.
As
He drew nearer and nearer to the cross, and realized that upon it was to come the great final test of His life, Jesus went out into
the garden to pray. He
came "unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
you here while I go and pray yonder." (Matt. 26:36) The victory of Calvary
was won that night in the garden of Gethsemane. The calm majesty of His bearing
in meeting the awful onslaughts of Pilate's Judgment Hall and of Calvary, was the outcome of the struggle, agony and victory
of Gethsemane. While Jesus prayed the disciples slept, so He stood fast while
they fell ignominiously.
Many
temptations come upon us unawares and unannounced, and all that we can do is to
lift a cry to God for help then and there; but many of the temptations of life
we can see approaching from the distance, and in such cases the victory should
be won before the temptation really reaches us.
7.
In 1_Thess. 5:17 we read, "Pray WITHOUT CEASING," and in Eph. 6:18,
R.V., "praying AT ALL SEASONS."
Our
whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in constant communion
with God. There should be a constant upward looking of the soul to God. We
should walk so habitually in His presence that even when we awake in the night
it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak to Him in
thanksgiving or in petition.